COLUMBUS — “The version of the bill that passed in the Ohio House yesterday includes additional language that would let utilities get so-called shared savings for decreases in energy usage in prior years.

Basically, a utility could count lower energy usage from an earlier year towards a benchmark for compliance. Then it could keep a share of customer charges for energy efficiency programs in the current year as ‘shared savings.’

In other words, noted Molly McGuire at the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, ‘this provision would allow electric utilities to use so-called ‘banking’ of energy savings to charge consumers for higher profit.’

‘It’s a huge giveaway,’ said Trish Demeter at the Ohio Environmental Counsel.”

COLUMBUS — “The vote Tuesday means the House doesn’t have the 60 votes needed to override a potential veto.

Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Green Township), who sponsored the initial companion Senate Bill 320, and Rep. Ron Amstutz’s (R-Wooster), sponsor of the House Bill 554, said these alterations are a compromise with Kasich. The governor has given no indication he sees it that way.

On Tuesday, Kasich addressed the House of Representatives, wishing them a happy holiday and thanking them for their service to the people of Ohio. He didn’t say a word about the legislation they would later pass. But he did advise the room of politicians to speak up when they feel strongly for or against something.

Republican Rep. Mike Duffey, of Worthington, took the comment to heart related to the bill.

]]>How did your Representative vote on HB 554?http://ohiocitizen.org/how-did-your-representative-vote-on-hb-554/
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 19:24:12 +0000http://ohiocitizen.org/?p=29213House Bill 554 passed in the Ohio House of Representatives yesterday by a vote of 56 to 41.

The bill will delay the return of enforceable renewable energy efficiency and renewable energy provisions for three more years.

COLUMBUS — “Fossil fuel and utility interests have used lobbyists and 2016 campaign contributions to influence state legislators in Ohio, and to drive renewed attacks on clean energy policies in the Buckeye State.

Companion bills – HB 554 and SB 320 – in the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate would effectively continue the controversial freeze on Ohio’s renewable energy and energy efficiency standards until 2020. The Ohio House just passed its version of the bill.

There has been no shortage of public support for unfreezing Ohio’s clean energy standards, but behind the scenes, fossil fuel and utility interests have been using money to influence the debate in Columbus. ”

The first vote today followed a 14-minute appeal Kasich made from the House dais at the start of the session. House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, a Republican from Clarksville, said he invited the governor.

COLUMBUS — “Voting largely along party lines, the Ohio House of Representatives today approved a bill that would further delay green energy mandates by allowing power companies to decide whether they want to obey them for the next three years.

…Gov. John Kasich has repeatedly said he would veto any legislation that extends the current two-year freeze on the green mandates the lawmakers enacted in 2014.

House leadership has been planning an end-of-the-year special session to override a veto, if it occurs. But those plans are up in the air now because too many Republican members joined with Democrats to oppose the legislation.”

COLUMBUS — “Renewable-energy requirements would become optional for the next three years under a bill passed Tuesday by the Ohio House.

House Bill 554, which is opposed by renewable-energy companies and environmental advocates, now heads to the Senate, where leaders expect a debate and possible vote Thursday, which would be the final day of the session.

Opponents are holding out hope that Gov. John Kasich will veto the bill, noting his recent statements that he opposes these types of changes to renewable-energy rules.

The measure, which passed the House 54-40, makes changes to clean-energy standards that have been in place since 2008 but were halted by a two-year freeze that Kasich signed in 2014.”

Many regions are already operating power systems with more renewable energy than previously thought possible

WASHINGTON, DC — “Lower costs, enhanced capabilities, and an abundance of resources have set the United States and much of the world on track to increase renewable energy deployment and decrease carbon emissions from the energy sector.

Still, the question of whether the U.S. can reliably and affordably integrate large amounts of wind and solar confronts policymakers – so we’re giving you four reasons 30% wind and solar is technically no big deal.

Wind and solar are the fastest growing energy sources in the country, and for good reason. As experience with renewables increases and costs continue to decline, mainstream adoption of wind and solar is becoming an economic and technical reality.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates wind and solar met just 5% of U.S. electricity demand in 2015. In its Annual Energy Outlook 2016, EIA projects that to meet the Clean Power Plan, the national share of wind and solar will likely reach 15% by 2030. To meet the U.S.’s Paris Climate commitment while minimizing costs, Energy Innovation’s Policy Simulatorrecommends policies getting us to 33% wind and solar by 2030.

But to reach these goals, policymakers need confidence system operators know how to deal with higher shares of variable renewable generation.

…According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), U.S. wind and solar energy resource potential is well in excess of what’s needed to meet our current electricity demand, which currently stands at roughly 4,000 TWh of total generation, and 1,100 GW of capacity.”

COLUMBUS — “AEP Ohio proposed a new retail rate plan that would more than triple residential customers’ fixed charges and shift more costs to customers that do not purchase their power through a competitive supplier.

But the company’s request for a six-year extension of its ‘Electric Security Plan’ (ESP) lacks the controversial proposals in its last rate case to subsidize the company’s merchant generation — a plan that crumbled after FERC said it would be subject to its review. Instead, the company is hoping Ohio legislators will agree to revamp the state’s deregulation law to allow it to bring its merchant generation back into the rate base.

The utility said it expects the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to decide on its Nov. 23 request in April (16-1852-EL-SSO).

…If the extension is not approved, AEP says it will terminate the current plan before its May 2018 expiration, freeing it from its promise to build 900 MW of renewable generation.

AEP Ohio, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, had requested a 2024 expiration date when it applied in 2013 for its third and current ESP, but PUCO in 2015 approved a three-year plan.

…The proposal also includes adding or modifying several other riders to customer bills, such as an ‘alternative energy rider’ to recover expenses for renewable energy credits. It also would more than triple the residential customer charge from $5/month to $18.40 by January 2018 while reducing the share of fixed charges included in distribution energy charges.

AEP committed in the last rate case to developing 500 MW of wind generation and 400 MW of solar generation in its stakeholder agreement. The extension proposal includes commitments to install between eight and 10 microgrids, 250 electric-vehicle charging stations and self-dimming street lighting in Franklin and 10 surrounding counties.”

CLEVELAND — “Case Western Reserve University, NASA Glenn Research Center and the University of Toledo will serve as ‘living laboratories’ that demonstrate the value of integrating distributed energy sources with the assortment of devices, equipment and other power consumers within buildings and across the grid.

The effort begins this month with a one-year award administered by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The Department of Energy-funded project is an expansion of transactive control demonstration activities ongoing at PNNL. Corporate partners FirstEnergy, Eaton Corp., Siemens and Johnson Controls are participating in this three-site activity. The total project investment from DOE and industry exceeds $1 million.

Called the Northern Ohio Building-to-Grid Integration Demonstration, the project will develop and demonstrate strategies incorporating smart building technologies on the three campuses with traditional, solar and wind power sources; batteries used for backup power, meeting peak demand and for non-peak storage; electric vehicle charging stations and more. The research would benefit municipalities, utility companies, building owners and others.”

COLUMBUS — “PUCO commissioner Howard Petricoff, a lawyer who has practiced energy law for 40 years, resigned today rather than face an Ohio Senate rejection in the final weeks of the year.

Gov. John Kasich appointed Petricoff, the commission’s only Democrat, to a five-year term on the commission in June. He was one of 19 candidates. The Senate had until the end of the year to vote on the appointment or allow it to become permanent without a vote.

…In the months since his appointment, Petricoff had recused himself in a small number of cases, including the FirstEnergy, American Electric Power and Dayton Power & Light rate cases, because he had represented opponents.

At the same time in recent months a conflict developed between the legislature and the Kasich administration over the state’s renewable energy and energy efficiency rules that all power companies have had to follow until the lawmakers “froze” the rules in 2014, but only for two years.

The rules are set to spring back into life on Jan. 1, unless the legislature suspends them again, an act that Kasich has vowed to veto.

Amid that tension, the Senate’s Public Utilities Committee last week re-opened its consideration of Petricoff’s appointment, voting to not recommend the Senate approve it.”